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Thursday, December 8, 2011

A Pyramid of Candy at Christmas

Betty Fails Richards

April 1962

The Christmas holidays always brings to mind my Aunt Betty Richards and the many hours she spent in the kitchen cooking candies, breads, cakes, pies, and her famous cinnamon rolls. She was a great cook and there were many cousins, aunts and uncles who stopped by during the holidays expecting to find their favorite sweet.

During their later years, my grandparents lived with Uncle Johnny and Aunt Betty in Lingleville, which is a small stop in the road just outside of Stephenville in Erath County, Texas. My cousins, Linda, Brenda, Jerry, and DeeBo had the enviable privilege of getting to know them better than any other of their 46 grandchildren. Yes, I said 46. That number always astounds me, even today. I am the third oldest grandchild, and the oldest living today; next in line is two years younger than I am, and the youngest is young enough to be one of my children.

Some of Bob and Willie's 46 Grandchildren

Grandpa and Grandma Richards had eleven children, but they lost the oldest, a little girl they named Iwanda, at age six. She died on January 13, 1921 and is buried in Whitt Cemetery, Parker County, Texas.

You can imagine how many of my aunts and uncles stopped by during the holidays to visit their mom and dad, bringing their children to play with their cousins. There was usually a house full of adult conversation, noisy laughter and kids running in and out.

My cousin, Linda Ruth, tells the story every year about her mother making a platter full of candy and threatening the kids, that if they touched it they would be in a “heap of trouble, more than they had ever been in before!” This particular year Aunt Betty had stacked the platter with the candy in a pyramid shape and set it on top of the refrigerator, knowing that the kids would have a difficult time reaching it.

Later in the day three of the uncles came by with their families and Aunt Betty went into the kitchen with Aunt Jean, Aunt Bobbie, and my mother, Mildred, to get some of the food out to serve to the men and the kids.

When Aunt Betty reached up to get the platter of candy, it still looked as beautiful as ever; and so while making allowances for the heavy platter of candy, she used too much force and the candy literally flew over her head landing on the floor behind her!

You see the platter was “top heavy”, because Grandpa Richards had been sneaking pieces of candy from the back of the pyramid all day long. There was NO candy in the back of the pyramid - just a large hole! He had a sweet tooth, and he absolutely loved to torment Aunt Betty!

I asked Linda how her mother knew it was Grandpa who had gotten the candy and not one of the kids. She said she figured they were not clever enough to have thought of that trick yet!

I’m not sure what choice words Aunt Betty had to say to him, but I imagine his ears were burning for a while after the laughter died down.

Aunt Betty now has Alzheimer's disease, and although she no longer cooks, she still has a host of beloved nieces and nephews, as well as her own grandchildren who visit her and bring her candy, remembering the times when she was the matriarch of the family and held court in her kitchen.

Grandpa Richards also suffered with Alzheimer's disease and died in 1975. Grandma Richards died after struggling with breast cancer in 1966.

John Robert Richards married Willie Laura Homsley November 12, 1912 in Peaster, Parker Co., Texas. Their children were:

1. Iwanda Richards, born March 22, 1915 in Parker County, Texas; died January 13, 1921 in Whitt, Parker Co., Texas.

SOURCES:PHOTOGRAPHS:Original Photographs from Collection belonging to Betty Richards, Digital format, Used by Judith Richards Shubert December 8, 2011Story Handed Down by Linda Ruth Richards to Family MembersGenealogy Information taken from Family Bible and Notes Written by Willie Homsley Richards

Homsley Reunion, Seymour, Texas

Shiloh Baptist Church in 1736 ~ Camden County, North Carolina

Original Wooden Building ~ Click on Picture to go to Camden County's Homepage.

HOMESLEY CONNECTIONS

Several of my Richards family cousins have a copy of Carrie Homesley Cunningham's book, "Historical Record of the Holmesley Family." My dad gave me his copy before he died. In Len and Greg's post, "Homsley Stories", a reader tells them how Mrs. Cunningham came to his family farm when he was a boy in Arkansas and talked to his father about genealogy and then came back, delivering her printed book by car to different families that had ordered several copies!

You'll find other gems in this wonderful article on Glenn Gabbard's ancestry which is Homesley ~ the same as mine, and Len's and Greg's.﻿